Review: On the Way to You by Kandi Steiner

On theWay to You, an all-new emotional standalone from Kandi Steiner is LIVE!

On the Way to You by Kandi Steiner

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publishing Date: November 16th, 2017

What makes you happy?

That was the question Emery Reed asked me the day we met, and I couldn’t give him a single answer. I could have said my dog, or my books, or yoga — but I just stared.

And then, I got in his car.

It was crazy to take a road trip with a stranger, but after years of standing still, he was my one-way ticket to a new life, and I wasn’t going to miss it.

We shared the same space, the same car, the same hotel room — and still, we were strangers.

One day we’d be laughing, the next, we wouldn’t speak. Emery was surrounded by impenetrable walls, but I wanted in.

Discovering his journal changed everything.

I read his thoughts, words not meant for anyone’s eyes, and the more I learned about him, the harder I fell. It turned out nothing made Emery Reed happy, and I wanted to change that.

I earned his trust by violating his privacy, and as wrong as it was, it worked — until one entry revealed a darkness I never knew existed, a timer I never knew was ticking.

Suddenly, what made me happy was saving Emery from himself. I just didn’t know if I could.

I CAN’T with this book. It’s my first time reading a book by Kandi Steiner and holy moly, it was not what I expected. It went above my expectations. I jumped into it thinking I was going to get just another emotional contemporary romance book to add to the collection but instead I got a well written, angsty and emotional story about two incredibly real characters that meet in the right place at the right time.

Cooper was about to leave Mobile, Alabama. She had been working at the local dinner for the past four years and almost had enough money in her pocket to make it to her dream college in Seattle. Then one day a beautiful young man came inside the dinner. He asked her what made her happy and then he offered to take her on road trip across the country since he was headed to Washington himself. Cooper refused at first because stranger danger and all that jazz. But with a little help from her friend, she decided to take a chance. She took her dog, her sunny personality and her prosthetic leg and left Mobile, Alabama for once and for all.
Emery was having a good day. Maybe that’s why he asked Cooper to go on the road trip with him. Maybe he asked her because she didn’t answer his question about what made her happy. Maybe he actually saw she was trapped in that tiny town and it was slowly killing her soul. It didn’t matter though. He’d take her to Seattle and then he would go find what his grandma told him to find at the end of his road trip.

I feel like crying because I don’t think I’ve ever felt more identified with a pair of characters like I did with the ones in this book.
Emery suffers from depression and I think Kandi did such a fantastic job portraying it. Everything he went through, I could feel deep in my soul as if I was the one actually living it. I haven’t been able to put myself in a character’s shoes like I could with Emery and that’s because I’ve truly been there, in those shoes. I bet a lot of you have too. So believe me when I say you guys are going to love the heck out of Emery.
Cooper is a twenty year old who’s been through a lot and somehow always finds a reason to smile. What would bring down most people, only makes Cooper stronger. She sees the world like it’s never going to let her down even though it has let her down more times than you can imagine. When she talked about leaving her hometown and feeling trapped, I honestly wondered if Kandi somehow found a way to read my mind because that’s my current situation. Cooper is such a relatable character and I’m her number one fan.

I recommend this book to everyone. Even if you are not a fan of romance. On the Way to You is a romantic book with a little bit of sadness and a whole lot of realness. Surprisingly, I didn’t cry while reading this book but I do think some of you might shed a couple of tears. So pick this book up if you have the chance. It might become one of your favorite reads of the year.

5/5 flowers

Kandi Steiner is a Creative Writing and Advertising/Public Relations graduate from the University of Central Florida living in Tampa. Kandi works full time as a social media specialist, but also works part time as a Zumba fitness instructor and blackjack dealer.

Kandi started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic (like most girls brought up on Disney movies).

When Kandi isn’t working or writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys beach days, movie marathons, live music, craft beer and sweet wine – not necessarily in that order.